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VISA conman Graham Copsey specialises in shattering the hopes of people desperate to start a new life abroad.

Now we're delighted to report that the crook is finally facing jail seven years after we started to expose his rotten scams.

He's run a string of companies that charged around £3,000 for visas that never turned up.

There was First Point International, followed by Visa Plus and then VP Relocation, all of which collapsed.

In early 2003 he was banned from acting as a company director for eight years for swindling customers and the taxman.

A little problem he got around by getting his wife Natalia to act as his shadow director of yet another version of the scam, this time called Visaplus Relocation Ltd. Now Copsey, 50, has been successfully prosecuted by the Department of Trade and Industry for running a company while disqualified. Natalia, 36, has been convicted of aiding and abetting.

Both deny the offences.

One of Copsey's victims was Beth Hale of Barnoldswick, Lancs, who lost £998.

In 2004 she told us: "It's like he's above the law - he just carries on destroying people's dreams."

He's not above the law now, Beth.

Along with Natalia, he's due to be sentenced next month.

Acting as a company director while disqualified carries a maximum two-year jail sentence.

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DEBT collectors banged on Jackie Driver's door so hard that she feared it might come off the hinges.

That tactic might work on some but not on Jackie. She knows she owes nothing and is rightly defiant.

It didn't take us long to work out that she was a victim and not a debtor - she only had to mention the name of the company chasing her, Visaplus Relocation.

This vile operation makes all sorts of promises about helping people move to a new life abroad.

Charging up to £4,000, "salesman" Graham Copsey has even vowed to get some customers work in their new home country.

The trouble is that Copsey is a liar and one of the most persistent, shameless con merchants we have ever encountered.

He has left millions of pounds in unpaid debts and caused untold heartache with a string of failed firms.

We first exposed him in 2000 when he ran the finance arm of a company which said it could get visas for people moving to the USA - it couldn't and went bust with debts of £3.52million. Undeterred, Copsey has since started two more companies in the same field, both of which have gone under.

You won't find Mr Copsey listed as a director of the latest company because he has been banned from boardrooms until 2008 - but you will find his wife Natalia.

Visaplus gives a smart London address but this is just a mail drop. Staff there told us Copsey was the "manager" and they simply forward his mail.

Jackie Driver and partner Gordon wanted help in moving to New Zealand and paid £998 to Copsey after he charmed them with his well-worn but effective patter.

Jackie said: "He was so confident and gave the impression he could help but it was rubbish and now he's threatening us.'

And she's not alone. Take Beth Hale of Barnoldswick, Lancs, who lost £998 to Copsey after seeking his help with a visa. She said: "It's like he's above the law - he just carries on destroying people's dreams."

John Cook of Bristol, who wants to move to Canada, has a string of letters from Copsey demanding £2,996 and warning him that his credit rating could be affected.

John told us Copsey lied to him and added: "I'm confident that as a disqualified director he won't have the nerve to turn up in court."

You'll be delighted to know that, no thanks to Copsey, Jackie and Gordon left for New Zealand this week.

Meanwhile, isn't it time Trade Secretary Patricia Hewitt called in investigators to deal with this scum?

About the blog

Andrew Penman and Nick Sommerlad form the Daily Mirror's Investigations team. They write a weekly column in the Mirror every Thursday and they're here to help uncover the scams, and expose the people behind them. They won the Cudlipp Award for campaigning popular journalism at the 2010 British Press Awards.